Isaiah 50:4-9a
Philippians 2:5-11
Matthew 21:1-11
As with every year from Palm Sunday to Good Friday I am compelled to ask: why? Why must the basis of our faith be predicated on the Blood of an Innocent Man? Why must One who preached peace, forgiveness, and obedience to the One, True, and Living God have been beaten to near death before being nailed to a Cross only to bleed to death? Why is it that a crowd filled with many who had likely witnessed at least some of the miracles performed by the hands of Jesus have turned so suddenly and so violently against the Man who asked nothing of them but to believe that the Kingdom of Heaven had come so near to them? That Salvation was at hand? That the call to repentance was a plea to turn away from personal and spiritual destruction?
Jesus rode into town on a donkey, and the crowd seemed to go nuts as if they actually had a clue who this Man really was. Imagine it yourself: how would you respond, having been witness to at least ONE of the many miracles performed, if you knew Jesus was coming to town? What would be your greatest challenge to overcome? How would you choose to greet Him? What would be your expectation?
I’m pretty sure I would have expectations, though it is hard to put them into words. Our faith teaches us that Jesus is coming back, and we typically have this image of Him – quite literally – descending from clouds. At least, this is how it is written. And it may be – quite literally – how it’s going to be. Yet the people of Jerusalem probably had an image in their minds as well and when the Image did not meet their expectations, they rebelled. Rebelled? They demanded His Blood! They went along with the crowd that cried for this Man to be killed and that a criminal, a revolutionary perhaps bent on driving the Romans out of Israel, be released instead. This man, Barabbas, may well have come closer to fitting the image of their expectations – or, rather, demands - than Jesus did although with what were surely other choices, one might ask why Pilate would have chosen Barabbas as the alternative.
To also consider the alternative in the context of the time and the not-unreasonable expectations the people might have had of Jesus, and given that Jesus enters into town and is greeted as royalty, it might be understandable that the people may have grown impatient if they were expecting that this “deliverer”, this “Son of David”, would likely ride in and drive the Romans straight out. And when this possible expectation did not become apparent, the natives, as they say, grew restless and thus were easily swayed to remember not the miracles they had heard about or had actually seen for themselves. They remembered, instead, that this was the Lord’s land that was still under occupation by the Romans and that Jesus seemed to make no move to change anything.
Some commentaries have suggested that the event of Jesus riding into Jerusalem is overstated in Matthew. The text makes it appear as though the entire city stopped in its tracks to see this “royalty” riding into town while folks are throwing their clothing on the road as well as cutting branches from trees to cover the path for the donkey and Jesus. And for me, none of this answers the question: why? In fact, given that many of these same people will soon turn on Jesus, the story of the “triumphal entry” seems to matter very little.
It is easy to say that the prophecies had to be fulfilled and Matthew’s account was written well after the fact, but as it is written it is almost as if the fulfillment of the prophecy had been staged in order to make it so although it is written in John 12:16 that “His disciples did not understand these things at first but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.”
There’s a lot of that “so that the prophecies might be fulfilled” in the Gospels, particularly in Matthew, which was written primarily for the benefit of Jews; hence the many Hebrew text references. But what does a prophecy foretell, and what purpose is it supposed to serve? It surely could not be as cheap a trick as being finally able to say, “See, I told you!” Could it?
The alternative to all this would be unimaginable and unnecessary because it did happen. Maybe it didn’t look exactly like what we may envision, but the fact remains that Jesus had to go to Jerusalem. That the crowd may have expected a conquering warrior is relevant only in that they, and we, sometimes have expectations we build up only in our mind’s eye and what we hope to gather from this.
Lent is an important time in the Christian calendar and Easter is no incidental afterthought, but we have to get through the arrival in Jerusalem and Good Friday. Why? We cannot appreciate the glory of Easter without recognizing humanity’s role in His Crucifixion. I know it’s a heavy burden and it seems unfair since we didn’t even exist when it actually happened.
“It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the Good Word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.” Hebrews 6:4-8
Recognizing our weak flesh and carnal desires and then recognizing and more fully appreciating our need for Divine Help and Guidance is what this season is all about. Coming to terms with the fallibility of our humanity is a step in the right direction and brings us one step closer to the Glory that is Easter. Amen.
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